The internet is huge, and it is growing bigger everyday. Some estimates put the number of new websites brought online every day at 150,000, and that number is only going to get bigger as time goes on.
With this massive growth, anyone who is anyone needs to stake their claim on the world wide web and create their own website. There are a huge range of reasons why you might want to make a website. Maybe you want to create a blog to express your political beliefs, or write short stories. Maybe you just want somewhere to share your travel photos and stories for your friends and family to see. Perhaps you have grander plans and would like to start an online business.
Whatever your reasons for wanting to make a website, you can get started for free by using WordPress. WordPress is the most popular content management system on the internet. The best things about WordPress are that it is completely free and supported by the open source community. There are two main options when using the WordPress software, you can either download a copy of WordPress and upload it to your own hosting space or you can use WordPress.com, which is a completely free hosted solution. All you do is create an account, and you will have a free website. The best thing about using this option is that there are no costs whatsoever.
How To Make A Website For Free Using WordPress.com
- First, you need to go to the WordPress.com website, and create an account. This is really simple, just press the large orange ‘Get Started’ button, and follow the simple instructions. You will be asked to select a domain name – make it memorable, so people will remember it when you tell them. To get the free site, make sure you click the free site option at the very bottom of the page.
- Once you have completed all the site set up steps it is time for one of the most important steps in making your website, selecting a theme. There are loads of free themes available, so pick the one that suits your site and your goals best. If you want to customize your theme further you can do that, changing the header image, the colors, and more.
- After you have finished customizing your theme it is time to start building your websites content. WordPress will present you with the chance to create your first post. So go wild! Introduce everyone to your blog, say what you hope to achieve, or just launch into a huge blog post about whatever you want. This is your website, so do what you want to do.
- The final step in making your own WordPress website is to promote it. Once you have made some fantastic blog posts, you are going to need someone to read them. So promotion is key. You can start by tweeting, or posting on Facebook your blog posts, so your friends and family will read and share them.
How To Make A Website For Almost Free With WordPress
If you want a little more from your website however, there is another WordPress option, and that is hosting your own WordPress site. It is easy to do, and the size, and scope of your site is basically unlimited.
- First you need to buy a hosting package, there are thousands of providers, and prices start at just a few dollars a month. The hosting package is where you site will be located.
- Next get a domain name, this is the .com (or .net, .org, or any other domain name), this is how people will find your site. This is much more professional than the free WordPress site, which doesn’t have domain name like this. Some hosting packages include this for free, which makes them even better value.
- Now you are ready to install WordPress on your hosting package. Go to WordPress.org and download the software. Next you need to upload it to your hosting account via FTP, don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense, it is easy to do, your host will have instructions. If it sounds too complicated, many hosts have a one click WordPress install, so you can have it up and running on your site in seconds, without having to do anything else.
- Once it is set up you can login and go to the dashboard, from here you can go to ‘Appearance’, and then ‘Themes’, where you can choose from one of thousands of free themes, either choose one of the most popular, or use the built in search engine to find one that suits your site perfectly.
- You can now make your site grow by adding posts, and pages, on whatever topics you want. The more content the better, as there is more chances for people to visit your site.
- Now the promotion part begins, and there are thousands of options for promoting your site, with everything from telling your family and friends, to paid advertising on Google, and other sites. Once the traffic starts coming, the potential for growth is almost unlimited.
Free Or Almost Free?
There are benefits to both WordPress options. If you are just looking to make a simple blog, then the free WordPress.com option will suit you fine. In fact even if you want to make a more complicated blog, the free option will suit you.
But if you are thinking bigger, you might want to go for the paid hosting package. It still only costs a few dollars a month, but you have unlimited growth potential. Not to mention that your site will look more professional. If you choose this option there is no limit to big your site could become.